“Oh, Chet, they were some real bad times and I can’t believe I survived that. Those boys—hell, they were men—they didn’t care if any of us girls ate or drank water. They spoke about you hanging all of them when you caught them. They really believed that was your plan—to lynch them.”
“That country up there is bleak, too.”
“Tell me about it. I considered shooting myself to escape it. But I didn’t have a gun. My system was messed up inside. If I ate anything I threw it up. He shook me by my arms once when I was bent over retching it all up and demanded to know if I was pregnant.”
“Think you were?”
“No. But I had no idea. I was bleeding. Hell, at that moment I thought being hung would be a great escape. After that he double-handed slapped my face until someone told him to stop. Then, weak as I was, I knew they’d leave me out there to die, and despite the pain I got up, caught my weary horse, and rode after them.”
“I never knew it was that tough.”
“Yeah, a few hours later, he came begging and pleading for me to love him.”
“What happened then?”
“I told him go ahead but he wouldn’t like doing that. I was bleeding.”
“And?”
“He stalked off mad and then he openly raped an Indian girl named Little Deer. Next morning, she was gone. I never knew if she ran away or they killed her. Your bunch ran us down three nights later.”
“She didn’t die. We found her the next day and she told us where they were going. We gave her a fresh horse and enough food and money to get her back home.”
“Thank God and you. What did you think when you saw me the first time?”
“You were a very rich, dirt-filthy bitch running with those stupid boys for any wild adventure that you could find.”
“I thought, That big guy is going to hang us all and it will be over.”
“I had no intention of hanging anyone. I knew by then some of their parents had money and they’d have it all over the news that we’d lynched their innocent boys. I intended to prosecute them in court to stop those raids on the stage stops.”
“I cleaned up what I could after that and knew I’d die out there if you refused my request when you said you were taking them back as prisoners.”
He nodded and hugged her. “Jesus found you a better horse and saddle the second morning. He never told me why.”
With a shake of her head she said, “You know him. He is as tough as any man on earth, but inside he has a big, considerate heart. I’d worked hard that day before and woke early to help the cooks—you weren’t going to complain about my services.”
“I had lots on my mind about getting those prisoners back and I knew I’d face a high-priced bunch of lawyers that their parents would hire, and did. I sure wasn’t thinking about that girl I brought back helping my crew make camp and cooking meals.”
“You told me in Flagstaff that I could get off there or if I had no place you’d take me to Preskitt and find me work.”
He nodded. “I knew by then you worked damn hard and that people listened to you. Can’t say I really knew much about you but I knew you were showing signs of becoming a leader.”
“Your wife and I talked for two hours that first day I got there. She told me about her plans to teach the ranch children English and to enroll them in school. Then she asked me to make that plan work. She wanted them dressed better—we sewed them clothes. Miguel treated me like I was some real important person not some woman of the night to use and toss aside. I saw he was a man of dreams, too. He loved so much to ride with you and when you told him he’d become the next foreman he about busted with pride.”
“About then Monica had the heart attack and died. My wife asked you to be her replacement?”
“What a fix for me. I was planning my wedding and all that happened. But by then I also knew what I had to do—take that job and marry him. I talked to Elizabeth about my problems. She said, ‘I’ll talk to Chet. But you know he has chosen Miguel to be the next foreman and I am sure you two can live in this big house with us until then.’”
“I never hesitated saying yes when she asked me about you. I had seen your transformation, teaching the children English in a crash course, the dress-the-workers-better plan, then you stepping in and handling Monica’s position.”
“I sure worried about what you’d tell Elizabeth when she asked you about me. I still recalled that morning in the sagebrush—‘You either work hard or I’ll leave you out here.’ I knew you didn’t need to be nice to me. I came there with those outlaws. You had no obligation to do a thing for me. But you did.”
He kissed her. “You may be right. God planned it all.”
CHAPTER 15
Chet rose early in the morning. He didn’t beat the house girls Oleta or Julie getting up—they were already fixing breakfast. Nor did he beat Salty, who already had a cup of coffee and was seated there at the table waiting for him.
“Morning.”
“Morning, sir. You see all you wanted to out there on your trip?”
“I saw three of the ranches and all is well. What do you know?”
“I found those three suspects I think shot at her and you.”
“Oh? They close by?”
“Close enough. We are watching them now.” Salty moved forward on his chair and shook his head. “They are not smart enough to do this without some backing. I figure they were paid to do that and we are watching for them to make contact with those parties who hired them.”
Chet looked hard at his man. “It wasn’t robbery, then?”
“Takes some effort to rob folks. I think they thought they’d kill you or scare you into moving and were going to be or were paid for doing that.”
“Who wants rid of me around here?”
“We are waiting for them to show up or these guys to meet up with them.”
“Who are they?”
“You ever know of the Cassidy brothers, Roy and Elmer?”
“No. I never even heard of them.”
“They have a place up on Twiller Mountain. Rough hillbillies, I’d call them. They have a son-in-law named Earl Gum. I didn’t have his last name but we have it now. They’ve cut some timber, firewood, and posts for a living but they don’t do a helluva lot more. Bo’s got me an arrest record on the Cassidys. Drunk, fighting, but no arrest for stealing. That is why I don’t think robbery was their purpose. They simply received some money for going after you.”
Chet felt near to being amused by the idea. “Who would pay them money to get me run out of here?”
“That, I am not sure about. But I have those two helpers of mine watching them like a hawk to try and find that out.”
“It’s a shame we don’t get along better with the law here and have them do that.”
Salty agreed. “You were gone and Bo’s advice to me on that matter was forget about going to the law.”
Chet laughed. “He obviously knows about how it would work.”
“I sure like the man the better I know him. He knows real estate and lots that goes on in town.”
“It isn’t costing much to keep an eye on them. Maybe we can learn something.”
Salty agreed. “Like you said, the one horse is a dirty-colored roan, light marking, and their other horses are bays. We tracked them the next day from where they left the main road and over that little mountain, down the narrow twisty road to their junky place. That’s what I have. You have a good trip?”
“Yes. We saw Toby and Talley. They have lots of hay put up. Those homesteads Bo has bought for near nothing, fenced in they make great hay farms. Toby has lots of hardworking Mexican boys handle things for him. They cut brush on that home place first, then learn how to cowboy, fix machinery, and work. He may not do it like you and I would but he gets lots accomplished. Then we went over to the Wagon Wheel Ranch. Spencer and Fred are doing great over there but they had some rustling going on and couldn’t pin it down. We found out who it was and there are over fift
een men in jail in New Mexico.”
“Spencer? He the telegraph builder they talk about?”
“He used lots of Navajo boys building that and several cowboys worked for him, too.”
“Then we came back by Windmill and saw my sister and her husband, Sarge. They do the Navajo beef contract from there. Toby is handling his hay needs, too.”
“Tom’s son-in-law, Cody Day, takes that herd up to Gallup every other month for Sarge.”
“Right.”
Salty smiled. “I met him at the Verde.”
“Has Hampt been by here while I was gone?”
“Yes, and his arm is lots better. Those three horse rustlers got seven years apiece. Bet they don’t steal any more horses.”
“Good riddance.”
“Yes. I understand, sir, it is tradition for ranch folks getting married to honeymoon up at the Oak Creek orchards?”
“It is. Yes, quiet wonderful place.”
“I am not some broke cowboy. I can pay for that stay.”
“Salty, you have earned that stay. I know the North Rim deal made us all money. But you have sure earned a week’s stay up there. When’s the wedding?”
“Two weeks on Saturday. And thanks. I know I’d made the decision of my life when Tom hired me on. I’d heard about the Texan-turned-Arizona-resident story but it was the best day in my life joining this outfit. I love the opportunity to stay on working for Vance and you. Married or not, if your two can’t ride with you, I am ready to anytime or place you need me.”
“I appreciate your support and we will have a place for you, rich or poor.”
Salty laughed. “I damn sure am not poor any longer.”
Salty left and Lisa joined Chet. “I overheard most of that. Not snooping. I saw him in action on the North Rim. He is another great soldier for the cause, isn’t he?”
Chet agreed. “Tom told me that I needed him. I did. He is watching the three who shot at us. He thinks someone hired them to do that so I’d leave here.”
“Maybe scare me—maybe—but I know they wouldn’t scare you. Don’t you have any idea who is behind it?”
“No, but we may find out.”
“Tomorrow I am going to town with Oleta to get the dress started.”
“I want a bodyguard to go with you.”
“I thought we’d plan to leave about eight-thirty in the morning. It will take a long time to get the measurements and all that.”
“I’ll speak to Vance and he’ll have a good man to ride shotgun.”
“Kind of strange to need a bodyguard after all the adventures that I’ve survived.”
“Different deal. Now you are my wife and I want you in one piece.”
She came by, bent over, and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Chet Byrnes. I love you. Maybe even more so here than anywhere else.”
It was great to be back, though that theory of someone wanting to run him off hung in his mind.
They damn sure didn’t know him and what he stood for if they believed that would happen.
CHAPTER 16
The next day Chet was reading the back issues of the Miner newspaper in the living room. Lisa and Oleta were getting ready to go to town when he heard someone shouting for him in the yard. He ran through the house, and on the back porch he saw it was his foreman Vance hollering.
“What’s happened?”
“Salty and those boys have finally found the man behind the shooting. He sent Ray to get you. Ray says he can take you up there. I am going after saddle horses for both of us.”
“I’ll get my hat and gun. Good.”
“Where are Cole and Jesus?” Lisa asked him, trailing him from the back door.
“I’ll have help enough. Those Mexican boys helping Salty have hit the jackpot. Vance is going, too. We will be all right. They aren’t Jesse James.”
“Yes. Don’t get yourself all shot up.”
“Honey. I need to go.” He finished buckling on his holster and setting his hat on his head. “I’ll be back. You be careful today. The buckboard and your guard are ready and waiting.” He kissed her good-bye.
“I know. Oleta is coming down. We are going. You be damn careful.”
“I will.”
Hurrying down the long flight of stairs to the ground at the base he turned to wave at her. He smiled and swung into the saddle. Ray, Vance, and Chet left the ranch’s yard in a flash.
“How far away are they?” Chet asked as they headed in the direction of town.
“Down in the Bradshaw Mountains,” the boy shouted over his shoulder.
Hell. That could be forty miles away. But he rode stirrup to stirrup with the foreman and the youth.
On top of a rise they let their horses catch some breath. Elevation there was over a mile high. They’d have to put some restraint on their rush or they’d kill their mounts getting there. Again on the move, they were heading onto those untitled ruts that led into the mining district south of Preskitt. Soon in the pine forest, moving ahead at a trot, they crossed over some steep mountains. Chet sure didn’t even want to ride his horse on the outside edge of the road.
Two hours later the boy pointed toward the end of a long, narrow meadow with steep sides of timber-size pine. “I left them down there.”
Chet smelled their campfire smoke and nodded. They must still be there. Next, he saw some horses grazing and the light-colored one that had pursued them that day. He told his men to rein in their hot, hard-breathing horses.
They agreed and did so.
When they came in sight, he didn’t know the seedily dressed three men but the hatless wavy-haired man with them, somehow, looked familiar.
“Hello, Chet Byrnes. Remember me?” he asked, swaggering around.
Chet shook his head. The four of them were unarmed. Salty had a Winchester, and his teenage horse wrangler had another one like it.
“Aw damn, Chet, I can’t believe I came more than a thousand miles to see you and you don’t remember my name.”
“You’re a Ralston.”
“Ha, you got half of it. Try for the rest, huh?”
“I don’t need your name. Why are you here?”
“Now, is that a way to talk to a former neighbor of yours? Why, the years we lived right next to each other under the Lone Star flag of Texas.”
“You know this guy?” Salty asked, a little on edge about the guy’s sarcasm.
Chet nodded. “His family stole my remuda two weeks before I was to leave Texas for Kansas, then his family killed my brother when he was in Kansas.”
“Yeah, and he hung my little brother and two of my cousins up in northern Texas—for no reason at all.”
“Liar. They stole my horses.”
Ralston made a face indicating that that was nothing. “Just a joke to make you squirm more.”
“Don’t tell me they were joking. To get rich, they drove them horses clear to the Red River and aimed to sell them to drovers who needed horses on the trail.”
“Well, my name’s Burl Ralston and I came here to kill you, you son of a bitch.”
Salty struck him over the head with his gun barrel. Ralston went to his knees and Salty’s second blow flattened him facedown on the ground. “You aren’t calling my boss that.”
Chet almost laughed at the savagery written on Salty’s face as he stood over the unconscious form on the ground. Minutes before, he was ready to kill this dark black spot from his past by himself. At the moment, though, he felt a little sympathy for the results of the man’s poor manner. Yes. He needed to be shut up.
“What did he pay you to shoot at us?” Chet asked the closest Cassidy brother.
“Huh?”
“You want to be laid out like that?” Chet pointed at Ralston.
“No, sir. He paid us fifty dollars.”
“What did he say to do?”
“Aw, he first wanted us to kill you.”
“And?”
“We said we needed more money to do that.”
“How much more?”
/>
Cassidy shrugged. “Like two hundred dollars.”
“So, he settled for you running us off.”
“More or less. He said two was too much. He’d do that himself for that much money.”
“Well, get ready. You’re not going to see daylight for several years.”
Rubbing the back of his head, Ralston sat up and asked, “What did he say?”
Salty hustled him to his feet, pulling him up by his arm. “That you four’d be in prison long enough to forget his name.”
“I won’t.”
Chet stepped in, wagging his index finger in the man’s face. “Then you come back to die after you get out of prison. I ever see your ugly face again I’ll shoot you on sight. Salty, take them to the Yavapai County Jail. Have them charged with attempted murder and anything else the prosecutor can think up about what happened here.”
“That won’t be hard.”
“Both of you two men who worked for Salty and have been trailing them will get a hundred-dollar reward apiece for a job well done. Good job. Salty, thanks. I wondered about the conspiracy theory but you sure read it right. Nice going. You and the boys have done a great job.”
“Someday I want to hear that Texas feud story,” Salty said.
“It’s a long one.” He wanted to tell Salty this might not be the end of it yet. Having Burl in an Arizona prison might draw more revenge-filled family members out there. But if he wouldn’t spend two hundred bucks on having him killed, they might not have the travel fare. Time would tell about that.
CHAPTER 17
Over the next few day, Chet spent some time with his ranch books. When they brought Chet the Miner newspaper, midweek, the headlines read, GRAND JURY INDICTS FOUR MEN FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A LOCAL RANCHER AND HIS WIFE.
Area rancher Chet Byrnes and his wife, Lisa, were chased by three men on the east highway a week ago under a barrage of bullets by the arrested three men. They were to stop Chet and his wife, but the two of them drove on to the Black Canyon Stage Coach offices. The company’s employees saw and heard the pursuit and rushed outside armed to scare the shooters away. Their movements and threats soon ran them off.
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